Purachina
by Notus Lethe
Summary: Seven years in the future, Sakura still hasn't captured all the cards. But before she can finish, a card comes along that Sakura isn't sure she can beat... (AU and semi shounen ai)
1. melody.for.tomorrow.

This is a really large story of mine that I've been working on forever. It's Card Captors, but in the future. Seven years in the future in fact. This fic is AU in that Sakura hasn't captured all the cards, in fact, she still has about six left. The arc with Eriol and Ruby Moon hasn't happened but Touya knows all about his little sister being a Card Captor. Syaoran (Li) went back to China with Meiling (Meilin ::shudders:: horrible name). Sakura has been trying to capture the stupid cards for seven years now but they keep getting out of hand!! And if this seems a bit OOC (Out Of Character) just think how different they would act seven years later, especially after all that's happened in my story. ^^* I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it. It's a three parter and I'm almost finished with the third part. Later! P.S. The title is from a CCS song called Purachina which means Platinum! Oh and the italics are flashbacks ^^*

Card Captor Sakura  
Purachina  
Part One: Melody for Tomorrow  
[][1]*~Charisma~* 

  
___________________________  
I am a dreamer, hisomu pawaa  
  
watashi no sekai  
yume to koi to fuan de dekiteru  
demo souzou mo shinai mono, kakureteru hazu  
  
sora ni mukau kiki no youni anata o  
massugu mitsumeteru  
  
mitsuketai naa, kanaetai naa  
shinjiru sore dakede  
koerarenai mono wa nai  
utau youni kiseki no youni  
[omoi] ga subete o kaete yuku yo  
kitto, kitto, otoroku kurai  
  
I am a dreamer, hisomu pawaa  
  
mada minu sekai  
soko de nani ga matte itemo  
moshi mo risou to chigatte mo, osore wa shinai  
tori-tachi wa kaze ni nori tabi o shite yuku  
kyou kara ashita eto  
  
tsutaetai naa, sakebitai naa  
kono yo ni hitotsu dake no sonzai de aru watashi  
inoru youni hoshi no youni  
chiisana hikari dakedo itsuka wa  
motto, motto, tsuyoku naritai  
  
genkai no nai kanousei ga koko ni aru, kono te ni  
it's gonna be your world  
  
mitsuketai naa, kanaetai naa  
shinjiru sore dakede  
koerarenai mono wa nai  
  
utau youni kiseki no youni  
omoi ga subete o kaete yuku yo  
kitto, kitto, otoroku kurai

Card Captor Sakura- "Purachina"

"I can't believe that you still haven't captured all the cards."

"I can't believe I'm sitting here talking to you."

"I mean, it's been _seven years_."

"Well Clow Cards are harder to capture than they look."

"Sure they are."

"What are you doing here anyway? Why aren't you in Hong Kong?"

"Oh why, did you want someone else to be here instead? I just thought that with Tomoyo and Syaoran and your father gone, you'd want somebody here with you."

"And you thought you were the best choice?"

"I'm sorry that you're jealous over his ex-fiancée."

"I'm not- ex? Since when did you become his ex Meiling?"

The dark haired girl hid her face from the other, blushing dark red and moving her mouth open and close, as if she didn't know what to say. "Well you see our parents kinda" And she mumbled incoherently the rest.

"What did you say?" The other girl, Kinomoto Sakura said, delighting in her rival's embarrassment.

"I said that our parents split it up after they found out that I had magic after all. The whole reason for the engagement was to hook me up with someone that had magic so I wouldn't be a disgrace to the family. But now that I have enough magic not to be disgraceful, it's over. He can marry whomever he wants, and I. Don't. Care." Each word was punctuated with disgust that Sakura knew to be false. Although the arrangement was forced, Meiling never seemed to have a problem with it. And the auburn-haired girl knew she still loved him.

"I'm glad you're here Meiling, even if I don't really like you." She offered a smile that the other girl returned barely. Sakura wiped down the countertop and turned off the water in the sink. It was her job to close up the ice cream shop that she worked in. The grey-haired girl was sitting at one of the tables with her black boot clad feet on the back of a chair.

"So where are we going after this? I'm rather hungry. And is Kiroberos still around? I'm not sure if he'll be glad I'm back." Meiling watched her former rival move, her auburn hair was to her shoulders, but still in the two pigtails on the side of her head that gave her a very childlike appearance. She didn't like the girl that much, but she wanted to be friends.

Sakura smiled, her smile much more mature than it had been six years ago when they had been ten and unfamiliar with the dealings of the world. Many things had happened since then. "Well if you want, there's this great Chinese food place that opened down the street and then I'm going to go home." Her voice had tightened once she mentioned Chinese food, thinking of Syaoran and missing him.

"I love Chinese food! We'll have to go. Aren't you done yet?" She whined, standing and leaning against the cash register. Sakura frowned at her but nodded.

"Yeah I'm done. Come on Meiling, I'm getting hungry too." The two girls left, doing exactly what they had planned. Except that Meiling was a little more hungry than usual and opened her Styrofoam container and eating the chow mien inside. Sakura growled at her and would have snapped it shut on her if she hadn't been driving. "Don't eat in my car!"

Meiling smirked and stuck a huge piece of orange chicken in her mouth to contradict the auburn haired girl. "I'll do whatever I want. So where are we going _now_ Sakura? In case you don't remember, I just got into town and home' to you might be different from the home I remember you having."

Sakura said nothing and sat perfectly straight. Meiling grimaced and put up her food, folding her hands in her lap and mimicking Sakura's pose. Out of everyone that the life of being a Card Captor had included, Meiling was the one person Sakura had never been close to. Oh sure, when the Fight card had shown up, they'd gotten close and the grey-haired girl had revealed some things about her that made Sakura realize she was human too, but that was it. They weren't bosom buddies and nothing was going to make them that way or as close as she had been to Tomoyo. Just thinking the name hurt. Tomoyo it was an empty place in her heart along with Syaoran.

"Wow." Meiling whispered as Sakura pulled up in the driveway of a very nice four-story building. She hadn't known that Sakura had any money, much less anything to be putting herself up in a ritzy place such as this. The crimson-eyed girl nodded her head with appreciation as she stepped into Sakura's forth floor apartment out of the uncharacteristically cold spring weather. She wove in and out of the rooms, dropping off her stuff in one of the bedrooms that was absent from all personal touches. Her almost friend was waiting in the living room, an odd smile on her face and her green eyes glowing with maturity. They had all grown up so much too much. "You got yourself a pretty good hook up Sakura. But why didn't you stay at home?"

The smile fell and Sakura flopped down on one of her navy couches. It was fairly obvious that she wasn't up to games anymore, anything she said was straight up. "After the accident, Yukito moved in with Touya and me. It was great having him there with us but I felt so out of place. And Tomoyo-" Her voice cracked slightly and Sakura cleared her throat before continuing. "Tomoyo always wanted to live in the city by ourselves. We got his place but well she never got to move in here. I only did recently." She gestured to the various boxes.

Meiling rested her elbows on her thighs as she knelt in front of Sakura. "Do you ever think about it Sakura? Why they died?" Bluntness always seemed to work great for Meiling. Sakura leaned back farther and shook her head.

"No more talk like this Meiling. It's depressing. Why don't you go get settled and I'll warm up our now cold dinner ok?" Meiling held Sakura's eyes for a while longer, green and red battling out to see who would be the winner and it was most definitely going to be Meiling: as it always was. But the grey-haired girl backed down.

"We'll do it your way Sakura. For now." The girl wanted answers and with her attitude, she was going to get them.

***

"I was thinking of Sakura's room being a studio. I never got to paint after she was born and it's bugging me that I haven't."

"Uh huh."

The response was something that Touya normally didn't hear from his best friend in the world, Yukito, but it was there nonetheless. And it bothered him a great deal. He peered at him closely, watching the silver hair move slightly with the wind that came from the open window Yukito was standing at. Touya opted to see if his koi was really listening.

"I was also thinking of running down the main street naked, freeing all the Clow cards so the spirits and me could have a huge orgy." Yukito didn't flinch.

"Sounds great." Silence permeated the room before Yukito shook out the cobwebs in his head and snapped his head to look at Touya with a yelp of "What?!"

"I really don't see what could possibly more important than me. And it had better not be my sister." Yukito turned a light shade of red, moving his glasses about his face until they were in a good spot and brushed past his friend, heading towards the kitchen. It was a sign for yes if he went for food. "For Kami's sake, I'd think you two had been having a secret love affair if I didn't know that you're plenty satisfied enough."

Yukito was downing crackers, heating toast in the toaster, and vibrating with every second. His brunette lover raised an eyebrow. The snow bunny, as he was referred to so affectionately, smiled a full on grin before dumping his remaining handful of crumbs in the trash. He moved closer and pushed Touya against the nearest wall; kissing him full on the mouth, running his hands up his shirt.

The brunette gave in, relishing in the feel and delighting in his lover's taste, but something was wrong. Yukito always used sex to lead him astray, especially when it was something very important. But he was never this distracting before, trembling with energy and coming at him like he was a nymphomaniac that hadn't been satisfied in several years. Well Yukito _was_ somewhat of a nymphomaniac but it was always a lazy drawl, never this frenzied rush.

Touya grabbed Yukito's shoulders and pulled him away, searching his face for something, anything. Well, he looked cute. His silvery white hair was askew and his glasses were missing, probably the same place his shirt had gotten to. That was surprising, Touya didn't remember removing any one's shirt. But his eyes his eyes were huge pools of molten gold, and they only turned that way when he was extremely passionate, extremely melancholy, or extremely worried. Their little scene hadn't gone on long enough for the first and the second was completely out of the moment so the only thing that was possible "What is going to happen to Sakura?"

Yukito jumped up at both his sister's name and the sound of the toaster going off. He responded to the food first, bouncing over there and placing it delicately in a napkin before crunching it in his fist. Slowly, he slid down the side of the counter; his head making audible _thunks_ as the underside of his head caught on every drawer handle. His hands, pale and long, came up to cover his eyes. Touya stood and watched speechless. If that's how Yuki was behaving, something was very wrong. So, he tried again with the talking thing. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know yet." The blonde or as close to blonde as anybody with silvery white hair could get, answered earnestly. "But it's bad. Very, very bad."

***

That night, as she lay in bed with the covers all drawn up around her like they were her stuffed animals, Meiling cried. She hated crying; it always made her feel weak and tiny as if she couldn't handle things so she had to resort to tears. And the whole reason she was crying wasn't even a good reason.

It was getting hot under the covers, so Meiling jumped from beneath them and headed towards one of the windows in the living room, sitting with her legs dangling out window. Syaoran always hated when she did that, he wasn't too happy with heights and would flip out when he saw her like that.

She missed him. Missed him so much that her heart hurt and her head felt like it was going to explode without him being there. When they had gone back to Hong Kong, they'd gotten closer. Closer than they had ever gotten before. Perhaps it was that he understood her now, or that his time with Sakura had opened his eyes to certain things, whatever the reason, they were once again best friends and even a bit more. But then _it_ had happened.

__

They had been walking along the promenade, hand in hand and being the loud joyous couple they were when someone had bumped so hard into Syaoran that he fell, his cards scattering everywhere. Meiling had tried to jump on them or anything to stop the cards escape, but it was going to happen again. Some of the most difficult cards were going to flee and there was nothing either of them could do about it. And then it happened. It was the rush of power in her body like she had finally been able to breathe properly.

Her hand came up of it's own power and gestured slightly at the fleeing cards, the power coursing through her veins. "Stop." And somehow, they did.

Syaoran had watched her with wide hazel eyes, mouth opening and closing as if he couldn't figure out to say. It didn't matter: she couldn't either.

That night should have been the best night of her life. She had always tried to be the best she could be physically since she was completely void of magic. But that new discovery had changed her life. After the elders found out that Meiling had power and a fairly good amount of it, they denied the parent's request to keep the betrothal between the two cousins. It had been designed to give Meiling a chance of having a magical baby and the elders always thought that two magical people should never marry for their magic should be shared with the world.

She thoroughly considered jumping off the building. No one would miss her all too much and she was a tiny girl, she wouldn't make that big of a mess. But Sakura had been through many deaths already, and Meiling couldn't muster up enough self-hatred to do it with that thought in her head. Instead, she closed the door and went back to her room, oblivious to the green-eyed girl that had been watching her the entire time.

Normally, he hated when people treated him like some animal that could be cuddled and petted on the head to the point where he almost purred with the pleasure of it, but the next day when Sakura had woken him up to meet Meiling again, Kero was having no problem enjoying her treatment. She wasn't even someone he could stand most the time but now Meiling had grown up and Kero figured that he could do the same. Maturity wasn't that hard a getup to get into. The grey-haired girl gently stroked the spot between his ears as she told him about China, relating what it looked like and how pretty it was.

"We always lived in a very secluded spot, and I guess that's why everything was so fresh and undisturbed." Kero mumbled something in encouragement and Sakura smiled over her shoulder as she grabbed doughnuts from the freezer.

"So you'll complain when I pet you but when _she_ does it's ok?" Sakura popped a chocolate doughnut in her mouth as Meiling set Kero down on the counter at the little island they were sitting at. Kero got himself a doughnut and sat down, chewing thoughtfully.

"Yes." Sakura grunted in frustration and kept eating. Meiling got herself one and picked at it, not feeling the urge to eat. The tall auburn girl across from her noticed.

"Why did you come back Meiling?" Kero choked on the huge bite he had taken and Meiling's scarlet eyes widened. She ducked her head and started to fiddle with the necklace at her throat. It was a small replica of a sword that both girls knew too well hanging on a silver chain. Syaoran's sword looked exactly the same and was in fact, a gift from him. It came to dangle just at the utmost top of her cleavage, which gave her an ample amount of chain to play with.

"I I came into magic. I got my hand of power." She stood up and wandered, but still within hearing distance.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Her head turned back to look at Sakura, locking eyes and staring for a few moments. Then, Meiling bowed her head and shook it in a quick negative motion.

"You don't understand Sakura! My family is very old fashioned, they believe that magic should be spread throughout the world while it can, and that means, if I have power, then I'll have to end up with someone else. Someone non-magical. And even though you think I'm just spazzing on this because of Syaoran well everyone I've ever had a crush on was magical. That's pretty much my type: tall, dark-haired, magical'. Everything's been turned upside down and I can't find my feet. I didn't even have any training back in Hong Kong. Wei had died a few years after I got back, so no one would bother with the little non-magical girl. The worst thing though was-" She caught herself, biting her tongue. "I've lived in the United States for the past two years. Then I went to Hong Kong for a month to see my family and well things happened so that I knew I could only come back here to you. But don't get cocky Sakura. It's just that you're the only Card Captor I know and I need some training."

Sakura was frozen, partially eaten doughnut halfway to her mouth. She cleared her throat and placed the doughnut on the counter. "Well I- I guess I'd I'll umm ok Meiling. If you want, I'll show you what I know but it's not much. Kero can show you stuff, right Kero?"

The little golden Seal Guardian fluttered up and circled around Meiling in a way meant to belittle her but the grey-haired girl stood straight and defiant. Kero settled back on the counter. "She's gotten magic since I last saw her but she's a bit older than normal."

"Fine." Meiling wrapped her arms around herself and sucked herself back into the shell that she always had. "It's alright I guess, I mean-"

"Meiling-" Sakura tried to cut in on Meiling's obviously discriminating monologue but the apartment building rumbled so violently that she had to grab on to the counter to stop from falling. The crimson-eyed girl fell to the floor and they all waited until the rumbling has ceased. "What was that?!"

***

The more nervous he got, the more he ate. Empty boxes of everything that had been in the cupboards littered the table and he tensely munched on a cookie that he had found at the bottom of a discarded box. Touya sat across from him, watching with a raised eyebrow. He'd never seen Yukito like this, never.

"It's going to kill her." He said suddenly, looking at the half of a cookie in his hand as if it held all the answers. Touya furrowed his eyebrows and immediately thought of-

"Sakura?"

***

Sakura righted herself and grabbed Kero. "We have to go find out what that was! Do you think it could be a card?"

Kero closed his eyes in concentration. "I don't know what card would do this besides the Earthy."

***

"The test is going to be too hard too hard." Yukito broke the remains of the cookie in half and put the halves facing opposite.

Brotherly protectiveness welled up in Touya and he sat on his hands to stop from grabbing Yukito and shaking him. "Sakura? Are you talking about Sakura?"

***

Golden light enveloped the three figures as they stepped from the building. Meiling shielded her eyes and stepped in front of the others. "It's nine at night, the sun can't be out this late."

Sakura shivered, staring out into the gold nothingness. "It's not the sun Meiling."

***

The two halves of half a cookie were smashed beneath his fist and he sifted through the crumbs. "It's going to be her fault that the world ends."

Touya sprang from his seat and grabbed Yukito by the front of his blue shirt, hauling him to his feet. He wasn't really angry, no one could ever be angry with Yukito, but he was definitely frightened. "Is Sakura in trouble?"

***

The sea of golden light –which was more like a large pool with the city glowing around it- started to shrink, shrink so that it formed a ball of shinning shimmering light in front of them. Meiling backed away as did Kero but Sakura stared, entranced by the orb.

"Sakura! Call upon Windy!" Kero shouted, trying to break through her haze. She nodded and reached in her trans-dimensional pocket where all her Card Captor stuff was kept and brought out the Sealing Wand she used.

"Let's do this."

***

"Yukito tell me! Is Sakura going to be alright?" He was shaking Yukito now, trying to hold it in but, his sister might be in trouble and nothing else was important. She was all the family he had left. Yukito reached up and held Touya's face in his hands.

"Sakura will be tested. And she will fail."

End Part 1: Melody For Tomorrow

Please review below or email me at [angelfire2996@yahoo.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:angelfire2996@yahoo.com



	2. heroes.will.fall

Purachina P2

Well! Here we are again! This is the second part of my Third part series! I hope you like it so far! Yea, I know it's angsty and whatnot, but leave it alone! hehe. Thank you all so much for the reviews, even to the people who read it w/o reviewing that's fine, just as long as you enjoyed it! Now I'm almost finished with part 3 but I'm not sure how to end it. Would you like romance? Between Sakura and Syaoran? Between Meiling and Syaoran? Between Sakura and Meiling O_O? I dont know, but if you think you might want me to, just tell me in the review! In this part, Sakura is somewhat depressing... Oh and I *_do_* like Yukito! Hope you enjoy it! And the song is from Jewel. ^^* 

card.captor.sakura  
Purachina  
part.two: heroes.have.gone

[*~Charisma~*][1]

_____________________________________  
Pieces of us die everyday  
As though our flesh were hell  
Where are my angels?  
Where's my golden one?  
Where's my hope now that my heros have gone?   
Jewel "Amen"

"Windy! Release and dispel! Release!" The card did as told, perhaps the card that listened to Sakura the best, and engulfed the orb of shinning gold light. The auburn haired girl released a sigh of relief. It had looked as if it might have been harder than that. "Windy return to your power confine!" Like normal, the gold sphere would come back with Windy and create a card of it's own.

"Uhm Sakura I don't think that's working." Meiling said worriedly, coming up to stand beside her. Her red eyes were darting over the landscape and she glanced at Sakura's trembling hands holding the Sealing Wand. Obviously, Sakura thought the same.

Suddenly, fine cracks appeared along the balled up Windy and she shattered, pieces that felt like glass pummeled the group of three and the trio shielded themselves from it. Under the noise of Windy's screaming and bursting, Meiling could hear Sakura crying. Windy had been her favorite card, her best and first card.

A thin line, like a snake, slithered from the orb of gold and it moved to touch Sakura, wrapping around her. Meiling jumped forward and grabbed Sakura's hands, trying to pull her from the gold's grasp. But while she was doing this, the front of Sakura's shirt began to glow and cards flew from her breast pocket.

"NO!" Sakura screamed, letting go of Meiling's hands and reaching futilely for the cards, each floated from her grasp except for one that she hugged tightly to her chest. The gold orb let go of the Card Captor and all the cards hovered around the sphere until they too, like Windy, cracked and shattered. Sakura wailed with each breaking noise.

"Element: Fire." Meiling visibly stiffened as the soft tenor voice rang loud through and the orb was engulfed with fire. As with Windy, the Fire was shattered and a boy, with a sword that looked as if it was another appendage and not a weapon clutched in his hand, dropped down in a crouch beside Meiling.

He reached into his jacket and was about to bring out another card when the sphere doubled and then shrank, exploding into tiny golden fibers. Nothing except the dark city remained as if nothing had ever happened. Sakura stood, dusting herself off and trying to look as the city did but failed with the sharp lines in her forehead. Her bright green eyes focused on the boy between her and Meiling.

Stiffly and with his mouth clenched, the boy endured her scrutiny of him: the brown hair that was so light, it couldn't be brown anymore and his determined bronze eyes that glittered gold in the right light. He was taller than either Meiling or Sakura; lean body well muscled from too many years of training and the sword in his hands moved in a way that was familiar. And although Sakura was looking at him with confusion burning through her eyes like green fire, Meiling was desperately not looking at him.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, tempted to touch him. He didn't seem real and she wanted to make sure he was. Her brain thought him familiar but she couldn't place a name on him.

Meiling smirked and fiddled with the tip of one of her pigtails before opening her mouth to name the boy before them with heavy sarcasm. "Sakura, it's the wonderful Syaoran Li."

A little while later, Sakura was showing Syaoran her little apartment, ending on her bedroom and explaining to him that he would have to sleep in the living room. But he didn't really seem to be listening and Sakura noticed, making her feel uncomfortable. His eyes were staring off at the picture on her wall of a garden with tiny specks of color for butterflies, but then, he didn't seem to be looking _at_ it. 

"Syaoran?" He glanced back at her, tilting his head.

"Sakura I've missed you." It was so quiet and soft that Sakura was almost sure she had dreamt it up. That familiar feeling welled up in her chest and Sakura was so happy he was back. Her Syaoran was back and he had missed her.

"Oh Syaoran." She hugged him, squeezing her eyes shut and relishing the feel. How many times had she thought of him like this during the years? And although she didn't want to ruin the moment, she had to know. "Why did you leave?"

"Things happened Sakura." He said simply, pressing her closer to him. _Oh like that's an answer_, she thought almost angrily. She tried not to stiffen but pulled back, suddenly mad that he hadn't thought up a better excuse than that.

Refusing to look into his eyes, Sakura grabbed items from the shelf behind him. "I'm going to take a shower now Syaoran."

Meiling paced the living room, trying to determine if the amount of money she needed for a ticket to the United States could be bought with her necklace. The person who gave it to her always told her how precious it was and she knew it to be true. It was most likely her most treasured possession. But now, now that he was back it didn't seem to matter all that much.

"Are you leaving again?" The grey-haired girl stopped so abruptly that she tripped over her own feet and sprawled over the floor. Syaoran could hear her curse under her breath as she pushed her self to her feet. Crimson eyes narrowed at him and she brushed off her clothes delicately, like she hadn't fallen and was showing him her boredness with the conversation.

"I might. I've learned to leave where I'm not wanted. You taught me that Syaoran-san." Deliberately, she kept the formal suffix to separate the emotion that flooded her body from the sight of him. His emotions were bubbling to the surface. As much as he tried, Syaoran had never been able to hide anything from his cousin. She watched him stalk towards her and get close.

"I don't see why you have to make everything so difficult Meiling. What happened that wasn't my fault. You can't keep blaming me for it." His tone bit into her but Meiling stood her ground, trying to back away and look graceful at the same time.

"You were angry that I destroyed the Lasin Board. You know I didn't mean to do it but it wasn't enough. And I don't blame you Syaoran-san, I blame myself." It was a long moment that they stared, golden brown eyes and red locked together before Meiling withdrew. "Everyone is finding excuses to leave you Syaoran, maybe you're the one not wanted."

Before he had drawn his sword to hit Meiling for the low blow, she was gone. He wouldn't hurt her, just tap her to make her know he meant business. She didn't have to get that angry at him.

A long while later, after all the rapid emotions and wild feelings racing between the trio settled a bit, they sat down together at Kero's request. Well, Sakura and Syaoran did, Meiling sat on the windowsill again, legs hanging outside and staring off into the night. Kero had given a piece of paper to Sakura, telling her to write down the cards she hadn't captured yet.

"The problem is, I've never seen a card like this before." Kero sounded thoroughly worried, hovering over Sakura's shoulder. The air in the room was tense due to matters other than the one at hand and the little Seal Guardian was clueless.

"I can only think of The Light, but I've captured it and it shouldn't be able to to break the other cards." Sakura's voice was still shaky as her penmanship. In a more characteristic manner than when they were alone, Syaoran said nothing, arms folded and a grim frown on his face. The auburn-haired girl turned the only card she had over in her fingers, spinning it and hoping for dear life that it wouldn't be taken.

"The Fiery is very powerful too Sakura, but I'm almost certain it couldn't do anything like that." Kero settled on Sakura's shoulder and peered at the card, cringing at it. "I don't think any card can do that."

Syaoran spoke finally, a low mutter from him like usual. "Clow Reed did many different things to his cards, maybe he allowed one to transform into others."

"But the Seal Guardians were told all the cards and their powers so why would one elude them?"

"I've never heard of any type of card that did something like that."

"Well it was only a suggestion, you weren't getting that far." Syaoran was on his feet now and all three were bickering in close quarters. Meiling turned her head and spoke rather loudly.

"It's called The Galaxy." Three heads simultaneously looked at the grey-haired girl who was fingering the fringe at the bottom of her orange sweater. She swung her legs inside and under her body, so that the gentlest push would have sent her flailing backwards. Needless to say, Syaoran was getting very nervous, his palms itching. He hated heights.

"And how would you know this?" Sakura asked, her emerald eyes regaining their spark of hope. If maybe, there was a weakness

"When I studied as much as I could about the cards, when I didn't have any magic and thought that they only way to prove myself was to know more and fight better than anyone with magic, one thing included was mythology." She crossed her arms and clenched her fingers. "There's many references to lost cards, usually none of them with any basis in reality but they always thought that Reed had made a special reserve card if anything had happened to him. It was the ultimate. Many scientists refused to believe in it since it was so powerful. The only thing that could mildly damage it and be the only card to help win it over was The Erase. Other than that"

Sakura held the only card she had tightly to her chest, a sinking feeling spreading through her stomach. If The Erase was the only card that could help, then things weren't looking very good. Meiling knew what card she had, her head bowed and feet lightly kicking the wood paneling. "It's The Return. And I know that won't help us at all. I hardly even trust this card How are we going to do this?"

"Actually Sakura, if we-" But Syaoran was interrupted by the phone. Each member of the tiny group exchanged glances and frantically searched the messy apartment for the cordless phone notorious for being lost. After three rings, the answering machine picked up. Sure, Sakura didn't get many calls but she was never there for the ones she did get. The machine did pick up, and they all froze, listening to the voice.

"For Kami's sake Sakura I have no idea where you are, but once you hear this you have to come over. I I don't know what's happening. It just he just Shimatta Sakura I think he's dying." With that, Touya's voice clicked off. Silence permeated the room.

"Oh no."

***

"Well at least The Galaxy is gone." Sakura said brightly, trying to convince herself that things would turn out fine. She sure didn't need the most powerful card ever made setting its sites on her. Meiling and Syaoran, even Kero didn't look too happy and the black cloud circling their heads darkened at her comment.

"For now." Syaoran said softly, his bronze eyes flashing dark gold. He was extremely depressing to have around. Sakura crossed her arms and tried not to focus on where they were going, to see poor Yukito, or the formidable Galaxy card, but instead on that new yellow dress hanging up in her closet. It would go very nice with that handbag she'd gotten at her last birthday and those clips she'd thought were so cute in the store the other day.

Before she even thought of shoes to wear, Meiling was ringing the doorbell to her old house. It was perhaps the oddest thing, ringing the doorbell to what had been her home for seventeen years. Touya opened the door, his deep blue eyes set in red and not really looking at any of them.

Ever since she found out that Yukito wasn't really a human and in fact was the being who was going to test her when she finally captured all the cards to see if she was a true card captor, she'd been nervous. Nervous that she'd mess up and he'd take off points or something. But they hadn't been as close as when he had just been her older brother's best friend for a very long time. Right around Tomoyo's-  
"He's in there. I Sakura he's been asking for you." Touya looked horrible, like he hadn't slept in ten years and just found out that someone ran over his brand new puppy that he sold his ears for. She patted his arm and looked into his eyes. He was so much shorter now, or was she taller? It was most likely the latter, but he wasn't as menacing as before and Sakura felt her stomach sink. Things were going so horrible ever since the accident.

The figure on the bed was motionless. Yukito was the whitest person Sakura had ever seen, and not just his skin. It was as if he had a light coming from the inside that made his entire being a glowing ethereal white. He was in startling contrast to the rich navy blue of the sheets. Sakura knelt beside the bed and was surprised to see that Yukito had his head facing her, liquid gold eyes dull, as if the gold was tarnished somehow and nothing would ever make it shine again. When Touya had called earlier, she hadn't believed his paranoid claims of Yukito dying but now now she could see why he had thought so. A delicate long-fingered hand reached forward to brush the spiderweb colored hair from the eyes that looked as if a grey film had covered it, like those dead fish in the supermarket.

"Sakura," His voice, usually perky and the kind to spark a happiness deep in your belly, was scratchy and hollow, like his eyes. "You came."

"Of course." His form was stretched out across the dark sheets, like he was flaming hot but to the touch, he was cold, colder than she thought someone could ever be. "Do you know what's wrong? I mean is this normal?"

He scoffed, a sound not categorized in Yukito's range of laughing, and shivered. "It's not normal, but not unheard of. The card the card you haven't captured it's draining me. And Kiroberos, even though it's not striking him as hard." He scoffed again, made a choking sound and then brought a surprisingly ice cold hand to her face. "I'm going to die Sakura even before I've tested you."

"No!" Sakura jumped to her feet, something stinging at her eyes and the feeling in her stomach clenching. "I'll defeat it Yuki-chan. I promise I'll"

"Do you?" She went to reply with a very enthusiastic yes when her stomach tightened. Visions of her Windy card, screaming and that eerie shattering that signaled the defeat of each of her cards raced through her mind. Her legs turned to Jell-O and she collapsed on her knees.

"I can't it took all my cards and I can't!" He turned away from her and shuddered, pulling the blankets around him and curling up. She felt like the worse person in the whole world and picked the covers Yukito had kicked off, pulling them over him. Her heart beat slowly, turning to ice and she refused to cry or feel hurt. She couldn't do it. It wasn't her fault that the stupid card had destroyed all hers and made her powerless. Sakura left the fallen snow bunny curled up in darkness and motioned for her friends. "Come on. It's time to go."

"But-" Meiling started, but was cut off by Syaoran's hand over her mouth. The one who had let them into the house, with hurt blue eyes and disheveled dark brown hair, was watching Sakura, his entire body clenched. The other three hustled out into the cold, leaving the siblings to each other.

"Sakura" He said, reaching out to touch his younger sister who had grown up so much too much in the years since she found out she was a card captor. She pulled back; green eyes empty like the gold ones he'd been staring in a few hours before. Her innocence was preserved in the two tiny pigtails on the side of her head, but even those were becoming more and more like the rest of the soiled world.

"I can't. Touya-chan I'm please I'm sorry. Forgive me. I can't." She turned and left, leaving Touya to wither away with his lover.

"So you just left him there to die? Sakura, that's not you. That's nothing like you!" Meiling made a movement like she was going to go on but Syaoran jerked her back. Sakura did nothing: she kept walking towards her apartment, green eyes focused on her destination and lightly stroking Kero's wings.

"Can't you just shut your mouth for one minute?" He admonished, keeping the tight grip on her arm. Her red eyes blazed. Never did she remember Syaoran like this; never had he been so tightly wound or paranoid. Meiling shrugged him off, holding her arm to her and knowing that there would be a bruise tomorrow. He was never violent either. Or never used to be.

"I'm sure I could. But the insults are just so readily available that I have to fire them at you. Besides, I've never been known to keep my mouth shut so why should I start now?" She did that smirk, the one he hated and turned on her heel, jogging a bit to catch up with Sakura.

***

"He asked you to save the world?" Syaoran asked incredulously. He was sitting on her bed, a comforter of delicate white cherry blossoms stemming from cheery trees spread over it and the same pattern decorating the entire room. Sakura was fidgeting and standing near her desk with unopened boxes on top.

"No. But he told me that he was going to die and that's just the same." Her words sounded weak to her and she cringed, wishing to tear out her own throat to stop the excuses. Why couldn't she just do it?

"Sakura you're strong enough that you could do it. It's just the Galaxy card and-" Sakura literally stamped her foot, looking up at Syaoran and grinding her teeth.

"No! It's not _just_ the Galaxy card'. It's the most powerful thing I've ever gone up against and I can't do it Syaoran. I'm not strong enough." He stood up, to protest this and she held up a hand. "Syaoran Nothing you can say is going to change my mind."

He spread his hands, a motion of defeat. "Whatever you say Sakura." Syaoran walked out the door into the hallway, shutting it behind him and Sakura stared at her hands, wondering how they would get out of this one.

Syaoran, on the other hand, was dealt with a more present problem. His cousin. She ran right into him, walking back from the little kitchen. Meiling glared and brushed past. He sighed deeply and followed her. Damn him and his stupid sensitivity.

"Meiling." The grey-haired girl let out an exasperated sigh and stood up, setting the cup of tea she had gotten on the makeshift table of an overturned box. Obviously, he wasn't the person she wanted to talk to. Well tough kuso.

"What Syaoran? What do you want? Can't you just leave me alone until we can both leave and not see each other for another three years? It's not that hard Syaoran-_san_." It would have been a curse word but the dirtying of his hard bought name was good enough. He came closer, perhaps to not let anyone hear their heated argument.

"I never wanted to be separated for three years Meiling, that was all you." He crossed his arms to keep from doing anything drastic. Her crimson eyes twinkled with the start of a good fight and she stepped closer, so that he could feel the heat she gave off in the cold apartment.

"You never chased after me. But thenyou'd never be that romantic." Nothing permanently damaging but stinging nonetheless. He let his arms drop and clutched his fingers into fists. So easy to grab her and shake some sense into her.

"Delusions Meiling. I wouldn't have gone after you if you had stolen all my magic." She growled and they moved closer. Some body parts were touching and he itched to do something to her. Meiling moved her head as she talked, stray pieces of her pigtails bobbing in front of her face. Perhaps he could grab those and rip them out of her head.

"Well that wouldn't have been a great accomplishment." His stomach lurched with the jibe and their bodies touched, scents mingling and he was about to reply when someone coughed. Both heads turned slowly to see a familiar teddy bear shaped Seal Guardian watching them closely.

"You two play nicely. We may need one of you." Kero said, watching the anger dart between them like silver fishes beneath a sunlit pool. Syaoran backed down first, moving through the guest room door and slamming it shut. Meiling grabbed her tea and went to the island in the kitchen sitting rather violently on a stool.

The noise made Sakura wonder what in Kami's sake was happening in her living room. All she saw was the rather ridged back of Meiling and a bewildered Kero flying into her room. She rolled the kinks out of her shoulders and walked up to the island, sitting across from Meiling.

"I'm not getting this." Sakura said finally, having poured herself a cup of the green herbal tea that Meiling had made. She took a sip and was surprised at how good it was. Tea making was not a skill she had associated with Meiling.

"Not getting what?" The grey-haired girl said finally, knowing full well that Sakura was going to try and solve her problems. She stirred her tea again, looking at the tea leaves floating around, and hoping that she wouldn't finish it so she wouldn't read the leaves.

"Syaoran and you you two used to be like the best of friends and it wasn't even noticeable that you were cousins but now now it's like you're mortal enemies." Sakura glanced up, seeing the shining of her friend's eyes and what it meant. She reached across the table to hold her hand but Meiling withdrew.

"The crest of the Li family is a traditional black and white ying-yang. When we were betrothed, they had to make sure that I would remain chaste. So they tattooed the crest on my thigh. I'm the white and Syaoran is the black." Meiling walked over to Sakura's side, whose eyes were wide open with shock. The grey-haired girl pulled up her grey skirt until it showed the pale flesh of her inner thigh. Sakura gasped, horrified, when Meiling showed her the sign, the black half gone under a ridged ugly scar. "When the engagement was broken, they released' me from Syaoran."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. It opened and closed a few times before Meiling sat back down on the opposite side of the island again. She sadly sipped her tea and rested her head on the countertop. Her pig tailed head rose once more to say something but her eyes widened. She pointed to the window behind Sakura.

"What?" She spun around, looking out the window only to see not the glittering lights of Tokyo at night but the same golden brightness that had attacked earlier that day. "No."

Both girls ran outside to see The Galaxy had completely consumed the entire city, leaving only the chill of it's golden light to remind them of the hopelessness of their situation.

Sakura closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "No."

End Part 2: Heroes Have Gone

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